Available in two types, one course and one more gentle these wiggly little scrubbers are designed to get into hard to reach corners and grooves and remove food and grime on all your kitchen tools. Perhaps the only way to thoroughly clean a whisk not washed immediately after use, the spaghetti scrub balls are designed to work without detergent or soap, thus reducing the volume of cleaning products you are using at home.

Importantly they dry quickly and fully so do not provide a home for mildew or bacteria like some cloths can. They use powder obtained from peach stones to provide a gentle abrasive power. This is something that has been used in face scrubs and home made cleaning solutions for years so we know it works and is natural and mild. Some of the Original Spaghetti Scrub Reviews confirm great results on glassware, plastics and steel. If used nowhere but to scrub the kitchen sink and faucets it would be worth the investment though, as all those little curves and grooves can be a nightmare to get really sparkly clean!

Goodbye Detergent Original Spaghetti Scrub

All the Goodbye Detergent range of products are designed to do just that, remove the need for detergents from your cleaning regime. Now I guess that most folks will still use some form of dishwashing liquid but you can definitely use a whole lot less with the spaghetti scrub even if you cannot give up the habit entirely!

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But, though we may sound ‘holier than thou’ at times, expressing a desire for everyone to think more about making their Cleaning Eco Friendly, we can assure you we are not.  Our home is an average one, where sometimes the thought of elbow grease is enough to put you off doing the chores entirely.

There are time savers and more importantly effort savers that can really help on the greener cleaning front though.  So, we shall interrupt our usual programing to bring you the best Eco Cleaning Gadget Reviews we can lay our pretty little hands on.

First up will be the Bissell 1400-7 Little Green Cleaning Machine. Yes, we know it uses electricity and it is made up of plastics and resins.  But, delve a little deeper and there is an awful lot to keep even the greenest greenie happy.  Post consumer recycled materials, biodegradable carpet cleaning solution, Styrofoam free recycled packaging.  And that is just the machine.  Add to that the fact it is also helping our carpets and upholstery remain in tip top, stain free condition for longer.  This means a clever green gadget could mean a longer time between new purchases which is of course one of the most environmentally friendly things you can do.

So, hang fire for the Eco Cleaning Gadgets Series…

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The first step to greener cleaning is of course to stop using harmful chemical cleaners.  That means getting rid of anything toxic, dangerous, non-biodegradable and indeed harmful in any way.  But, one persons idea of safe, toxic or dangerous might be something quite different to another’s.  While getting everyone to use less dangerous, less toxic and more safe cleaning products helps the environment, it does not remove the effects we are having on the planet altogether.  Some improvement is always better than none, so getting everyone to become a little bit greener does improve things for us all.

The Dark Green Approach to Eco Friendly Cleaning

But, for many this simply isn’t good enough.  For them, removing every artificial chemical that is harmful is key.  But to achieve this goal of perfectly Green Cleaning is far harder to accomplish.  The thing is where do you stop.  You may have found the most environmentally friendly cleaning range on the high street, but can you afford it and do you agree with the packaging, the labor used to produce it, the distance it was transported after manufacture?  The list of questions to ask yourself if you are really trying to be a Dark Green Greenie are simply endless.  And, worse still, not all the answers are that forthcoming.  That is why I believe the really environmentally conscious homeowner will be looking to change their cleaning habits in a far more radical way.

Purely swapping to a different brand is not the end of the issue.  To make cleaning dark green involves some of the following ideas:

• Consolidating cleaning products
• Homemade remedies
• Dual purpose items such as cleaning with vinegar, scouring with salt and baking soda
• Buying concentrated formulas
• Using less water
• Using nothing but water and microfiber cloths
• Short cool cycles for the laundry
• Laundry balls
• All natural cleaners such as soap nuts
• Avoiding anything derived from the petrochemical industry
• Avoiding all plastics and packaging that cannot be readily recycled
• Choosing only 100% biodegradable cleaning products
• Trying to buy locally produced products
• Relying on more elbow grease than miracle cleaner

In short being really Eco Friendly about your cleaning takes guts and determination!

The dark green approach to Eco Friendly Cleaning does not stop here, but you can see it is a much more serious business.  In truth it just is not practical to expect us all to be creating homemade soaps or hand-washing diapers.  But simply considering the things on the list can provoke thought and improvement in the way we do deal with the household chores.  Rather than feel we simply can never be green enough it is far better to see the list of truly green cleaning ideas as something we may be able to incorporate at least in part into our day to day work.  An improvement here and there is an improvement for all of us after all!

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The next few articles will look at the different levels of ‘greenness’ we follow to make our Cleaning Eco Friendly.

The Light Green Approach to Eco Friendly Cleaning

The disadvantages of simply switching all your current chemical cleaners to a green cleaning brand are that firstly it will cost you, and secondly often the Eco credentials of such green brands can be a trifle misleading.  That is not to say that switching all your current favorites to a greener brand is pointless.  Even if your new products are less than perfect, they will be better than old-fashioned chemical cleaners.  But, whether ‘a little greener’ is good enough is a very personal decision.

We are not here to judge and personally believe every little bit of greener living helps.  But, that shouldn’t make you feel completely wholesome and carbon neutral just because you have chosen a greener cleaner in this weeks trip to the grocery store.  Be happy you have improved your impact on the environment but do know there is of course more you could do.

Lifestyle, family commitments, budget and time constraints all have their part to play in determining just how environmentally friendly each of us is.  I am far from perfect, but sometimes greener than others and always aware that I could try harder.

It is great to be doing something, just do not get to complacent or indeed judgemental about what others do.  Remember, all those lovely green cleaning products you buy have an impact on the planet.  They are sold to you in abundant packaging (often plastic) and driven all over the country before you get to use them.  You drive to the store to pick them up and half of what is in most of those lovely green bottles is just water.

If you do nothing else, ALWAYS choose the most concentrated formula you can.  This is one of the greenest things you can do, in many aspects of your families groceries.  More product in each bottle equals more time between purchases, less packaging to try and recycle and less fuel used to get the green cleaner to your home.  But, do not forget to use significantly less of these green concentrated cleaners or you put all your good efforts to waste!

Another key to improving the light green approach to Eco Friendly Cleaning is to buy fewer products.  Consolidate your green cleaners.  There are simply not that many jobs that really require just one specific cleaning product to achieve.  You should be able to make more space in your cupboards and in your store trolley by choosing multipurpose products rather than task specific ones.  Remember the dirt in your home does not alter radically depending on which room you are in, so why on earth are you buying so many different types of green cleaning product.

All that being said, choosing the light green approach to make Cleaning Eco Friendly is still a good thing.  You can still feel good that you have improved your family’s negative impact on the planet and really every single improvement is hugely important.  If every family just made their approach to the chores that little bit greener think how much less pollution there would be in our waste water, or how fewer children would be exposed to harmful chemical cleaners?

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I am sure many people full of good intentions buy the odd green cleaning product to ‘help the environment’. Some want to reduce the risk of exposure to toxins their family encounters at home. But, before we start replacing a specific chemical cleaner with a green cleaning product we need to see if it is worth making the switch.

Some of the chemical cleaners in our homes may not be so dangerous anyway, so it makes sense to look at the worst offenders first.  Start with the most toxic, dangerous or polluting chemical cleaners, and swap those for a green cleaning product first.  That way your change has the biggest and quickest impact on the health of your family and the planet.

So, what are the chemicals in conventional cleaners we should try to avoid?

Alcohol

Alcohol of various types is found in a wide range of chemical cleaners including all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants, glass cleaners, metal polishes, air-fresheners and degreasers.

The various types of alcohol often found in household cleaners are:

• Ethanol
• Isobropanol
• Methanol

All alcohol is poisonous.  Ingestion or inhalation can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, depression, and stomach pain. Ingestion in large amounts could lead to blindness and even death.  Long term exposure may be related to sinus and throat cancers.

Ammonia

Found in all-purpose cleaners, disinfectants drain cleaner, floor cleaners, furniture polish, kitchen cleaner, metal polish, oven cleaner and toilet bowl cleaner.

Ammonia is a powerful irritant for eyes, nose and lungs.   For some, ammonia will cause rashes and even burns. When mixed with bleach, chloramine gas is produced which is highly poisonous to breathe.

Bleach

Found in bathroom cleaners, disinfectants, laundry bleaches, tile cleaners and toilet bowl cleaners.

The names to look out for are:

• Chlorine Bleach
• Sodium Hypochlorite

This is one of the most common causes of poisoning at home.  Bleach is a skin irritant and when ingested may damage the mouth, food pipe and stomach. Mixed with acids, bleach will form poisonous chlorine gas and mixed with ammonia, toxic chloramine gas.

Butyl Cellosolve

Found in degreasers, heavy-duty all-purpose cleaners and window cleaners. When absorbed into the bloodstream this can damage blood, liver, kidneys and the central nervous system.  The main problem with this as an ingredient in household cleaners is that it is easily absorbed into your system through the skin.

Carbolic Acid (Phenol)

Found in air fresheners, disinfectants and furniture polish.  This is a probable carcinogen.  Spilt on skin carbolic acid can cause swelling, burns and hives.   Ingestion can result in convulsions and even death.   Even low concentrations can cause gangrene, burns and loss of feeling.

Cresol

Found in detergents, disinfectants and herbicides.   Some companies, due to its toxicity are slowly discarding this, as an ingredient. Highly caustic, contact with cresol will cause a prickly or intense burning sensation followed by numbness.  Cresol poisoning causes diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness. It has been linked to liver, kidney and lung damage.

Formaldehyde

Found in detergents, disinfectants, furniture polish and water softeners.  It is likely that your home is polluted with formaldehyde anyway, from the fixtures and fittings rather than just the cleaners you use. Chipboard, plywood, mattresses, foam, plastics and insulation materials often make use of formaldehyde as a preservative.  Kitchens, with laminated cupboards and compressed worktops are often the worst polluted regions of our homes.

In lower concentrations formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen and irritant, causing nausea, headaches irritated eyes and nose.   Ingestion can lead to stomach pain, bleeding and even death.

Glycols

Found in degreasers, dry-cleaning chemicals, dyes, floor cleaners and paints.  There is a wide variety of glycols used, some are highly toxic, others relatively non-toxic.   Glycols are easily absorbed through the skin, and from breathing vapour via the lungs, into the bloodstream.  There they can damage kidney, liver and central nervous system.  Many are simple irritants to skin, eyes, nose and throat

Hydrocarbons (Petroleum Distillates)

Found in furniture polish, metal polish, oven cleaner and pesticides.   The hydrocarbons range from the decidedly non-toxic such as petroleum jelly, to the pretty toxic skin irritants.  All are toxic if ingested.  Perhaps the biggest concern is how polluting the petroleum industry is and using hydrocarbons perpetuates this damage being done to the planet.

Hydrochloric and Phosphoric Acids

Found in bathroom cleaners, limescale remover, metal polishes, tile and toilet bowl cleaners.  These strong acids can damage your soft tissues.  Burns, scarring and even blindness can result from spills and splashes of these acids.   The vapour alone is a strong irritant to eyes, nose and throat.

Hydrofluoric Acid

This is a scary one!   Found in rust removers and aluminium cleaners. On contact this acid will penetrate skin and tissue until it reaches bone.   Most worryingly there is no pain associated with the acid’s penetration so if you do not notice a spill you could be in real trouble.

Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)

Found in drain cleaners, oven cleaners, bathroom cleaners and toilet bowl cleaners.  Lye is an extremely caustic base or alkaline material.   It can quickly dissolve, skin and soft tissue, so splashes to the eyes can easily cause blindness.  Mixed with acids, lye can release harmful vapours and mixed with water will result in boiling temperatures, steam and frequent splashing.

Many drain cleaners are concentrations of 90% or more, lye so must be treated with absolute care.

Naphthalene

Found in air fresheners, carpet cleaners, mothballs and toilet bowl cleaners. This is dangerous to breathe, causing headaches, vomiting and excessive sweating.  Naphthalene is very toxic to small children, so beware of storing children’s clothes in mothballs which can result in serious poisoning of the infant.

PDCBs (Paradichlorobenzenes)

Found in insecticides, mothballs, room deodorisers and toilet fresheners. These are toxic to breathe or ingest and a common eye and nose irritant.

Perchloroethylene

Found in dry-cleaning solutions and spot removers. This is another suspected carcinogen.  Exposure causes dizziness, nausea and tremors.  Long term exposure can even damage the liver and central nervous system.

Propellants (Propane, Butane & CFCs)

Found in all aerosols including air fresheners and polish. These are relatively safe but can be dangerous when inhaled. And, the whole point of sprays is that they send out easy to breathe, small particles! They are irritating to throat, nose and lungs and can even cause death if inhaled regularly or in excessive amounts (such as done by youngsters as a cheap ‘high’).

Sulfuric Acid

Found in metal polish and toilet bowl cleaners.   This acid gives of very dangerous fumes.  Contact (even in diluted form) can burn skin and soft tissues.  Be especially careful of splashes in eyes that could lead to blindness.

TCE (Trichloroethylene)

Found in metal polishes and spot removers. TCE is carcinogenic and narcotic. It is irritating to eyes and nose, can dry out skin and cause dizziness or even memory loss when inhaled.

Do You Really Need to Worry About all Those Toxic Chemicals?

Many of these chemicals will be found in relatively small quantities in your commercial cleaning products.   So, you may think why bother making the switch to a green cleaning product.  Well, personally all I have no desire to risk exposure to all those toxic chemicals at all.  It is so difficult to tell how toxic a cleaner is alone. Let alone, the difficulty in determining how toxic those cleaners are when mixed with all the other cleaners I would use in one bout of housework!

Also, I know that I never carry out my household chores in the same kind of controlled environment that all the chemicals are tested in.  Is my bathroom a well-ventilated space?  Well, yes, when the window is open, but what if it’s blowing a gale and I still need to clean the bathroom?

I worry about children and pets getting hold of those toxic chemical cleaners too. Even if they don’t immediately set about devouring the contents, they may well spill those toxic cleaners on things they will damage.

Also, if a chemical is toxic to me, chances are a variety of other people are being exposed to that toxicity to bring that chemical cleaner to my home.  I am thinking of those people working to produce and transport those chemicals to the store.

Even, if I know not to ingest a certain substance, there will be small amounts left over which are thrown in the rubbish and eventually hit landfill sites. Those chemicals do not stop being toxic just because they leave our homes. In fact, if something is mildly toxic to us humans, you can bet it is very toxic to some forms of wildlife.

I am not silly enough to think I can live a ‘modern’ life without impacting on the environment.   I know some do, but I am happy with my home comforts and bought furnishings. I try not to be too wasteful but I am far from completely self-sufficient. But, by using green cleaning products I can reduce that impact in a very straightforward way.

More selfishly, I feel happier using an Eco cleaning product. I feel less at risk of developing a headache from cleaning the bathroom.   That then, makes me feel less at risk of doing myself long-term damage from inhaling all those unknown compounds.  If I feel healthier I feel happier  and a lot more likely to keep on top of all the cleaning chores!

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